Maintenance is so booooooooooring

[Andrea Duda]

People have suggested several ideas regarding the maintenance of web 
pages:

   - pages should include the name of the person responsible for the page
   - use tools like MOMSpider or CyberSpyder to generate lists of broken 
     links
   - use library assistants or student assistants to mark up pages
   - use resources like the Scout Report to learn about new sources

We're already doing these things.  For example, we run CyberSpyder monthly
to look for bad links.  (The newest version of it is quite nice!) I send
the reports off to the people responsible for those pages.  In most cases,
people check the links and update their pages.  But there are a few people
who say they don't have time to look at the reports and do anything with
them.  What do you do then? 

With the subject pages, generally librarians are making the decisions
about which links to add.  In many cases they turn this information over
to a library assistant or student who does the actual HTML markup. 

Resources like the Scout Report are great for learning about new sources. 
A resource that I find invaluable is Gleason Sackman's Network Newsletters
mailing list.  (Subscribe by sending the message "subscribe newsltr" to
listserv at listserv.nodak.edu.) You'll receive a dozen or more different
newsletters automatically -- things like the Scout Report, Edupage, NBN
Editor's Choice Awards, etc. 

I guess maybe there isn't a good answer to my question.  I send reports
about broken links.  I send notices about new resources that people may
want to check out.  Librarians can get help from LAs and students to mark
up their pages.  But in some cases, the pages are still basically
abandoned by the people who created them. 

          ===========================================================
                                Andrea L. Duda             
                    Networked Information Access Coordinator
           Davidson Library, University of California, Santa Barbara 
                         E-mail: duda at library.ucsb.edu
                     InfoSurf: http://www.library.ucsb.edu
          ===========================================================